1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a joint connector for mechanical joints which is especially useful in joining mechanical joint fittings to one another.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, various joint configurations have been proposed for joining sections of pipe to one another and to various fittings in pipeline systems. One type of joint configuration experiencing wide use in water service, gas service, and other liquid service is known in the industry as a "mechanical joint". Broadly defined, a mechanical joint is a bolted joint of the stuffing-box type, wherein each section of pipe has a bell end with a recess extending inwardly into the bell from a bolting flange on the bell end, the recess providing a seating surface for a sealing gasket, the pipe having a spigot ("plain end") at the opposite end, wherein the joint uses a separate follower gland adapted to be bolted to the flange on the bell end, to maintain the gasket in constant compression.
In many modern municipal water systems, the mechanical joint has been used less frequently in joining straight sections of pipe. The pipe-to-pipe joints are now more commonly designed to use one of several available designs of push-on restrained joints, wherein the sealing gasket is captured within the bell end. Fitting-to-pipe and fitting-to-fitting joint connections continue to employ mechanical joint connections for the most part.
Fittings employed in piping systems using mechanical joints may have bell-and-spigot ends, however, such fittings have the disadvantage that they can mate with or form a joint between only a spigot end at one side and a bell end at the other side. Further, fittings such as tees and wyes have three open ends, with crosses having four open ends, and therefore three or four incoming or outgoing lines must have the proper end configuration to be joined by the fitting.
It is also known to provide fittings to be used in systems where mechanical joints are specified wherein the fittings have mechanical joint "bell ends" at all openings. Using such fittings, the piping system must be designed to have "spigot ends" coming into the fitting. One disadvantage with this all-bell-end type of fitting is that, when it is desired to join two fittings to one another, it has generally been a requirement to employ a short section of pipe having spigot or plain ends at both ends thereof between the fittings in order to provide the proper end geometries to make up the mechanical joints. This, in effect, requires the assembly of two mechanical joints to join the two fittings to one another, which increases assembly labor and the number of piece parts which must be available, and provides an additional potential leak point in the system. Other fitting-to-fitting joint configurations have been proposed, however all require relatively complicated assemblies and do not overcome the disadvantages of requiring increased labor to assemble the joint.
It is therefore a principal object of present invention to provide a simplified connector for use in connecting together fittings or pipe having mechanical joint bell ends.
It is another important object of the present invention to provide a connector which will reduce the number of piece parts and reduce the amount of labor in assembling a joint between two mechanical joint bell ends.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector having the above characteristics, and wherein the connector can be used in assembling a restrained joint which is suitable for use with high internal fluid pressures.
It is a further important object of the present invention to provide a connector which will have the same joint seal integrity as the sealing gasket and follower gland of the basic mechanical joint, wherein the connector has a cylindrical sleeve and a radial flange having an annular raised portion for engaging the sealing gasket, and wherein the raised portion is tapered so as to be at a greater height above the surface of the flange at an outer periphery thereof.